On a Wing and a Prayer
by Zeionia aka Disturbed
Summary: The humans' plan to send the Kyuubi back in time to save the world fails at step one. Luckily, Kurama knows how to rework a plan on the fly. Naruto, who in Kurama's opinion deserves only the best of everything including parents, will be the one to save the day, and the scarecrow will serve as a useful guardian while Naruto learns how to walk again. Time-travel. Fix-it Fic.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any profit from this work.

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On a Wing and a Prayer

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_No one said time-travel made you dizzy,_ thought Kurama as he blinked away the disorientation that was his last and hopefully final trip through time. Of course, it did make sense in a strange way. All of time had unraveled around him. It didn't matter that Kurama wasn't the one spinning if everything around him did.

Eyes clear, the Great Nine-Tailed Fox stared down in surprise at the scene playing out at his feet. There was the squawling infant that would grow up to become Naruto. There was Kushina impaled on his claws and using the last of her strength to protect her baby. There was Minato pouring out his energy into the seal that would summon Shinigami. It was exactly as he remembered it and yet it was the wrong time.

Kurama should have arrived at least a week earlier. They had counted! More than once!

True, the calculations had been close. But everyone knew exactly when Naruto had been born _and_ exactly when the world when went to hell _and_ how many days it had been since that happened. They had more than enough chakra to reverse time all the days Naruto, and thus Kurama, had lived plus extra. It was even easier to send Kurama back than a human because they hadn't needed to worry about separating his soul from his body. All of his experience was tied to soul already!

If Kurama could move his paws, he would've smacked himself on the muzzle. The number of days he had experienced was different from the number of days he had lived. The thrice-damned sharingan and its hyper-effective genjutsu had screwed them over. The Uchiha had, all unknowingly, ruined their plans again.

Well, if there was one thing Kurama had learned from a life spent inside Naruto, it was how to improvise. It was for the best really. He was free and thinking for himself. The old plan had depended on convincing Kushina to listen to him in the week leading up to Naruto's birth, which was in no way at all suspicious, and if that failed, then praying that knowing the crazy Uchiha was coming to mess up everything might give Kurama some resistance to his sharingan, which was really no plan at all.

Kurama glanced at the newly summoned Shinigami and announced, overpowering Minato's tiny human voice, "I have a counter-proposal, Shinigami-sama."

Shinigami turned its masked face to Kurama.

"A discussion between those such as ourselves is not meant for the ears of mere mortals," added Kurama.

Shinigami inclined its head and the world around the froze in place. Shinigami did not stop time. Stopping time was antithetical to the nature of death. Instead Shinigami had temporarily removed itself and Kurama from the timestream in order to talk.

"I seek to trade for the life of a human," said Kurama. "I desire the soul of Uzumaki Naruto."

Shinigami indicated the unnaturally frozen infant.

"I apologize, Shinigami-sama. I was unclear. I wish that the soul of _my_ Naruto replaces that one," explained Kurama.

_You a desire a soul from the future? You ask for much, _said Shinigami.

"He maybe from the future, but Naruto is dead. He is not beyond your power. Nothing that lives ever can be," argued Kurama.

_You speak with wisdom, Kurama Nine-Tails. The price for this exchange is one-ninth of your current power,_ offered Shinigami.

Kurama whipped his tails back and forth. A ninth of his power gone? A whole tail's worth? It rankled, but the price was more than fair for Naruto's soul.

"I desire others," said Kurama. Given enough time, any expended power would return. He could give up all of his current power if Shinigami demanded it, and he would still be the strongest of the bijuu.

Shinigami inclined its head the opposite direction to indicate curiosity.

"The Hatake Kakashi of my time to replace this one," said Kurama instantly. Naruto needed looking after, and he needed someone reasonably intelligent to do it. Kakashi was the only possible choice. "I will also trade for the lives of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. They live, this once, when otherwise they might have died."

_For four souls, I will take four-ninths of your power,_ said Shinigami. It seemed to hesitate then continued, _I have been summoned to seal you, Kurama Nine-Tails. You __**must**__ be sealed. But the sealing is mutable to a degree._

Kurama frowned. Knowing what he did of the future and what life would be like with Naruto, he didn't want to be free. Not yet. Even dying if Naruto died would not be terrible if that crazy statue was still out there. Recalling the last time he was sealed and comparing it to this experience, there was one thing that he would like to change.

"Shinigami-sama, I ask that all of my chakra be sealed within Naruto and not separated into yin and yang. If you are to be paid nearly half my power, then I would prefer all of the remainder be available to my host," said Kurama instead.

_It shall be done to your specifications,_ agreed Shinigami.

"Then our bargain is struck," said Kurama.

The world filled with motion once again. Kurama barely noticed. The drain on his power was immense, though not quite as bad as losing outright half as it had been, and while not painful the sensation was distracting.

_The price is paid,_ Shinigami intoned then vanished.

Minato made an undignified squawking noise in surprise. Kurama removed his claw from Kushina and saw the wound he had caused unmake itself.

That was the last Kurama knew of the outside world. The seal behind which he had spent that last few decades flared to life, and in seconds, Kurama was imprisoned once again.

Kurama glanced around the dark, dismal sewer and sighed heavily. It was not a pleasant prison, but he was at least himself while inside it. He thought he might nap. Naruto wasn't going to be doing anything interesting until he started to crawl.

"Kurama! What happened?"

Kurama glanced at the bars of his cage. There, on the other side of the seal, was _his_ Naruto. Naruto's mental self was fully grown, powerful, wise, and looking confused as usual.

"We miscalculated," explained Kurama. What was that phrase humans used? "I had to wing it."

"Wing it?" shouted Naruto. "And what do you mean we miscalculated? We did the math, like, so many times!"

Kurama was too tired to go into details. He remembered now that he had spent most of Naruto's toddler years asleep after Minato sealed half his power away. Four-ninths was less than half but only barely.

"I'll tell you after my nap," said Kurama. He curled curled into a ball and arranged his tails to cover his body. Hopefully they wouldn't get tangled as he slept. He hated that. "Don't remove the seal yet. You'll probably explode. Enjoy being a baby."

"A baby? Explode?" repeated Naruto. "Kurama, what am I supposed to do?"

"Redecorate?" offered Kurama. It would be nice not to wake up in a sewer.

Any further reply of Naruto's was lost to the darkness of sleep.

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Minato dropped to his knees next to his wife. He was alive, she was alive, Naruto was alive-and had let out a remarkably angry shout for a newborn before dozing off-and the Kyuubi was sealed. At least one of these things should not have been possible.

"What just happened?" asked Kushina. She looked like a mess. Her clothes were bloody and torn from where she had been recently eviscerated, yet she was alive, and everytime she glanced down at Naruto, she smiled.

"I don't know," said Minato. He had so many questions, but he was content for now to drink in the beautiful, if gory, sight of his wife and baby.

There was a flicker of chakra, and Kakashi was suddenly standing next to them. Minato didn't even bother to glance up.

"You and the other young jounin are supposed to be sitting this one out," scolded Minato. His heart wasn't really in it. The fight was over and they were amazingly alive.

"You—you're alive! You're both—you're all—Naruto—you're okay!" said Kakashi brokenly.

Minato looked up after all. That sounded suspiciously like Kakashi having an emotion. He caught a flash of sharingan red before Kakashi lowered his hitai-ate over his eye. Then to Minato's shock, Kakashi dropped to his knees and hauled both Minato and Kushina into a hug. He was notably gentler with Kushina and her precious cargo.

Squashed against an unfortunately hard and uncomfortable flak jacket, Minato's wide-eyed gaze had to mirror the look of utter shock on Kushina's face. Little genius Kakashi had never been a hugger, and after Sakumo and then Obito and then Rin, Kakashi might have occasionally tolerated an embrace from an enthusiastic Kushina, but he had never initiated a hug or put up with one for very long. It really was a surprising day.

"Alright there, Kakashi," said Kushina patting him on the arm after what seemed a like reasonable amount of time. "We should get little Naruto to the hospital for a check-up. He was just born, you know."

Kakashi let go like they were both hot coals. A minute later he was back helping Minato get Kushina to her feet—the birth followed by a claw through the stomach and then being _un-_clawed was apparently rough on the hips. Kakashi decided to hover over all three of them like a fretful mother hen.

Around that time more shinobi started to appear. Minato's guard used the Thunder-God Technique to make there first and looked distinctly unhappy with Minato. They were also amazed that Kakashi had somehow beat them there. Uchiha Shisui showed up almost immediately after with a similar complaint. In Minato's opinion, that was enough of a guard to get them all back to the hospital and the group slowly started to move.

"You really should still be waiting for the all clear signal," Minato told all of them, but mostly Kakashi, who had to have been on his way before the Kyuubi was sealed to reach them so fast. "If you were hurt, then who would protect the village in the future?"

Kakashi looked entirely unrepentant. "Ah, Minato-sensei, those who abandon their duty are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. Isn't that the Will of Fire?"

Minato resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Kakashi had finally learned how to be a bratty teenager. Minato was glad he was still around to see it. He could work the how out later.

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End.

Fix-it fics are my favorite kind of fic. I just want everybody to be happy!

Thanks for reading. Please review!


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